[Peace] Fwd: Message from Colombia - SOA in the News - Local Organizing

[Belden Fields]

Begin forwarded message:

> From: SOA Watch <media at soaw.org>
> Date: December 23, 2005 10:03:14 AM CST
> To: <a-fields at uiuc.edu>
> Subject: Message from Colombia - SOA in the News - Local Organizing
> Reply-To: SOA Watch <reply.68295.56188162.8981937278076589724-a 
> +2Dfields_uiuc.edu at en.groundspring.org>
>
>
>
>
> School of the Americas Watch
> www.SOAW.org | 202-234-3440 | Click to subscribe
>
>
> SOA Watch Update
> December 23, 2005
>
> Happy Holidays from SOA Watch!
> Message from San José Peace Community
> On December 14, the Peace Community of San José sent an urgent  
> message to the international community that it had received new  
> death threats.
>
> In February of 2005, eight members of the Peace Community -  
> including three young children - were brutally massacred. Witnesses  
> identified the killers as members of the Colombian military's 17th  
> Brigade, a unit commanded by an SOA graduate. In November, Brigida  
> Gonzalez de Cartagena, a member of the community, joined us at the  
> gates of Fort Benning with a powerful call for justice.
>
> As the weekend's events were getting started, Brigida and all of us  
> at the Vigil received more sad news from the San José de Apartadó  
> community. On Thursday, November 17, 2005, troops commanded by  
> General Luis Alfonso Zapata Uribe, a graduate of the SOA, attacked  
> and killed Arlen Salas David, a leader of the peace community.
>
> This month the community wrote:
> "We plead for national and international solidarity so that this  
> announced massacre does not take place, they have always threatened  
> us beforehand and then the massacres have occurred, as in the case  
> of the eight people murdered last February or the death of Arlen  
> Rodrigo Salas last November. The paramilitaries act with complete  
> audacity, and their connivance with the public forces is total;  
> this is why we must remain firm against the government's purpose to  
> exterminate us. Even though we live in fear, we will continue to  
> work within a spirit of solidarity and community and we will not go  
> back on our principles of neutrality before any of the armed  
> actors." Read the whole message.
> More than 10,000 Colombian soldiers have been trained at the SOA/ 
> WHINSEC. Colombia continues to send more soldiers to the SOA than  
> any other country--with chilling results. Graduates of the school  
> are consistently cited for human rights abuses. The U.S. is an  
> active contributor to the war in Colombia, providing billions in  
> military aid and training to the Colombian military.
>
>
> SOA in the News
> 'Never Before!' Our Amnesiac Torture Debate
> by Naomi Klein, The Nation
> December 9, 2005
>
> "It was the "Mission Accomplished" of George W. Bush's second term,  
> and an announcement of that magnitude called for a suitably  
> dramatic location. But what was the right backdrop for the infamous  
> "We do not torture" declaration? With characteristic audacity, the  
> Bush team settled on downtown Panama City....
>
> "It was certainly bold. An hour and a half's drive from where Bush  
> stood, the US military ran the notorious School of the Americas  
> from 1946 to 1984, a sinister educational institution that, if it  
> had a motto, might have been 'We do torture.' It is here in Panama  
> and, later, at the school's new location in Fort Benning, Georgia,  
> where the roots of the current torture scandals can be found.  
> According to declassified training manuals, SOA students--military  
> and police officers from across the hemisphere--were instructed in  
> many of the same 'coercive interrogation' techniques that have  
> since migrated to Guantanamo and Abu Ghraib: early morning capture  
> to maximize shock, immediate hooding and blindfolding, forced  
> nudity, sensory deprivation, sensory overload, sleep and food  
> 'manipulation,' humiliation, extreme temperatures, isolation,  
> stress positions--and worse.....'" Read the whole article.
>
> SOA Rally Expands in Issues and Numbers
> Patrick O'Neill, National Catholic Reporter
> December 9, 2005
>
> "While some things about the annual gathering remain the same year  
> after year -- Sunday's powerful mock funeral procession in which  
> hundreds of martyrs names are chanted in a memorial litany or the  
> arrests of those who choose to do civil disobedience and trespass  
> onto Fort Benning property -- it is also clear that the gathering  
> has become a meeting place for activists of all stripes. The event  
> has opened the door for many to other social issues. This year, for  
> instance, opposition to the war in Iraq was a prominent theme, as  
> were issues related to torture and military recruitment. And the  
> crowds keep growing, with a record 19,000 showing up this year...."  
> Read the whole article.
>
> Facing Prison, Activist, 79, has no Regrets
> Rob Zaleski, Capital Times (Madison, WI)
> December 7, 2005
>
> "OK, truth be known, being handcuffed and shackled for two hours  
> and spending a night in the Muscogee County Jail in Columbus, Ga.  
> -- as he did on Nov. 20, after being arrested at the facility  
> formerly known as the School of the Americas at Fort Benning --  
> wasn't a whole lot of fun.
>
> "He is, after all, just nine months shy of his 80th birthday,  
> Madison resident Fred Brancel noted with a wry smile during an  
> interview this week.
>
> "And no, he's not thrilled by the possibility of spending anywhere  
> from three to six months in a federal penitentiary, says Brancel,  
> who was among 41 people - including five others from Wisconsin -  
> charged with civil disobedience during the protest and who will  
> return to Georgia on Jan. 30 to stand trial...." Read the whole  
> article.
>
>
> New Year's Resolutions: Bring the Vigil Home, Organize Locally!
> As we look towards a new year - a year in which there'll be a  
> Congressional vote to close the SOA - all of us must be thinking of  
> how we can bring the Vigil home, home to our families, to our  
> synagogues, to our campuses, to our union halls, to our schools, to  
> the doors of our Congressional representatives and to our  
> communities. The 16th Vigil at the gates of Fort Benning in  
> November kicked off a time of nationwide, unified work so that we  
> can win the upcoming vote in Congress to close this school once and  
> for all.
>
> Read more about what you'll need to organize a vigil at home in  
> your community, to do successful media actions and outreach and to  
> pursue your Member of Congress so that they can join our movement  
> in this historic campaign to close the SOA/ WHINSEC and to build  
> the world we know is possible.
>
> Local Organizing
>
> SOA Watch is made up of hundreds of local groups around the  
> hemisphere, doing work in their own communities to lay the  
> groundwork for a successful campaign to close the School of the  
> Americas. Your work to connect with others in your own community is  
> a key part of our movement's work to close the SOA.
>
> There are some great resources on our website* about building a  
> local group. There you'll find everything from general thoughts on  
> local organizing to specific tips about how to fundraise and hold a  
> meeting.
>
> You can also check out local SOA Watch groups in your area by  
> visiting our Local Groups page.
>
> * Many thanks to Incite! Women of Color Against Violence for much  
> of this organizing information.
>
>
> Support the Prisoners
> On November 21, 2005, 40 people were arrested in acts of civil  
> disobedience calling for the closure of the School of the Americas.  
> Five of these individuals are currently in custody at the Muscogee  
> County Jail. Read more.
>
> You can write to Christine Gaunt, Jonathan Robert, Priscilla  
> Treska, Louis Vitale and Jerome Zawada by sending a letter to:
>
> [Inmate's Name]
> Muscogee County Jail
> 700 10th St.
> Columbus, GA 31901-2899
>
> Please note that you may only address a letter to one inmate at a  
> time.
>
> Learn more about political prisoners and the prison industrial  
> complex in the US:
> Critical Resistance
> Prison Activist Resource Center
> The Nuclear Resister
>
>
> Save the date! April 23-25 in Washington, DC
> Tell Congress to Close the SOA
> Read more about the Spring Lobby Days
>
>
>
> We appreciate your interest!
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> 68295.56188162.8981937278076589724-a 
> +2Dfields_uiuc.edu at en.groundspring.org.
>
> Our postal address is
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> Washington, District of Columbia 20017
> United States
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>

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